Royal Navy Team Awarded Churchill Medal

The Royal Navy Submarine Mechanical Specialists team has won a prestigious industry medal for their innovative adaptation of freeze seal isolation, which has been used in a worldwide first for a technically challenging repair of a submarine nuclear reactor.

A technique using liquid nitrogen to freeze and isolate sections of pipework was adapted by the team in order to meet the challenging engineering environment presented by submarines due to restrictive space and geometry.

The work resulted in the first ever deployment of a triple freeze seal to repair a nuclear reactor, giving the UK Submarine Enterprise increased flexibility in its operations, with applications across the entire global nuclear industry.

The medal is awarded jointly by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST), the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the Institution of Royal Engineers (InstRE), the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Society of Operations Engineers (SOE) and the British Computer Society (BCS).

To find out more about the Churchill Medal Award, click here.